Icon mods vs. text w/icons:
I'm usually not the biggest fan of icon mods, but I think they would look really good with this set. So, icon mods have my vote.
Regarding the colors:
I'm not yet 100% sure which I like more
I like how, in the second render, everything is a bit paler (the green is less saturated, the grey is paler/touch bluish), so it's more of a necro vibe for me. Almost like I could imagine a pruned, waterlogged undead creature with that whole color scheme going on
However, that green in the first render is lovely.
This is a really rough GIMP job, but I took a stab at mixing the old render's green with the new render's mods:
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Hint: I did this for the numpad (I missed a small spot at the bottom-left of the 1-key, though).